Then we drove to the Rehabilitation Center. It is where kids go during the day if they come from bad homes. I asked for clarification as to whether "bad homes" meant poor families or dysfunctional families and it seems that it is the latter. The building is quite nice inside, and the staff is wonderful! We had about 40 kids in the program, and did the same program (pirate play, same crafts, songs, etc) we had done on the first day at the other orphanage. The kids were so sweet and so energetic and excited! Two girls, Marianna (12) and Lara (11) attached themselves to my side and wouldn't stop hugging me and trying to talk to me. They asked if they could write to me when I leave - they are both so sweet. :)
When we finished for the morning, the staff invited us to stay for tea! We had tea, chocolates and cookies, and talked about where we were from and who we were. It was a really nice, relaxing time and I enjoyed it so much!
Then we went back to the flat and debriefed on the day. We felt that we needed a little more energy than we had, and thought we should make it an earlier night. We had buckwheat and salad (and sausage).
After lunch Olga, Alexey, Olesya and myself went back to the bedbug flat to get the sheets the dorm had loaned us. We lifted up the corner of the mattress and there were TONS of giant bugs crawling everywhere. Olga and I went and waited in the car while they sprayed all the sheets and the bed with bed bug spray. I feel bad for the lady that lives there!
Then we went to pick up Olesya's daughter Julia from kindergarten. I asked if I could come with her to see inside. The playground was nest with lots of painted logs and tires, and roads and street signs painted on the sidewalk. Inside it was a typical kindergarten room with lots of centres for playing and working.
For dinner we had potato soup which I LOVED! Then we sat around discussing why we do missions, and what kinds of outreaches our churches do. Dima was very interested in my church's involvement in the Westdale food bank (they don't have programs like that here) and wants me to email him more information so that he can share it with his church.
One thing you have to know about Dima is that he has beautiful eyes. He has darker skin and dark hair, but these huge bright eyes and long eyelashes. I wanted to tell him this, but first I had Olga tell him that I wanted to give him a compliment, not to flirt, but just because I wanted to tell him! Then I said it in Russian. Dima smiled and said (in Russian, with Olga translating) that no one had ever said that to him before. i was surprised, and said, "Really." he started laughing and explained that what i said was, "You have beautiful eye." We all laughed pretty hard about that one, and it is now a recurring joke that Dima has one beautiful eye.
Then Andey's friend Maxima came over as well. He was at church yesterday and wanted to meet us "foreigners". It's so weird and funny that they always call us foreigners! Olga was busy in another conversation, so myself and Dimona tried to have a conversation with him even though he didn't speak English. It was pretty fun. We passed the Russian/English book I had brought with me back and forth and communicated that way, as well as using some crazy hand signs and motions. Then I brought out my ipad and opened a drawing app, so we were able to illustrate some of the things we were trying to say. It was a pretty great evening of charades and pictionary! Haha :)
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